Bloomsdale’s Water Main Survived Freeze Intact

By MARK EVANS

mevans@stegenherald.com

Although no updates were received from Cochran Engineering on Bloomsdale’s water and sewer system replacement project, the water system did come up during the 35-minute March 9 board of aldermen meeting.

Water superintendent John Lurk pointed out early in the meeting that during the span of single-digit and below-zero temperatures in late February, the city did not have a single city water main break. Other entities throughout the county were hit hard by some main breaks during the frigid spell.

“I just  wanted to let you know there hasn’t been a main waterline break,” Lurk said.

Monia repeated what he had said to Chris Bauman of Vern Bauman Contracting during the spell of cold and snow, when he saw him grading snow.

“I said, ‘You know I really expected to see you more with backhoes instead of snow plows,’” Monia said. “There were main breaks all over St. Louis; I watched the on the news; Perryville had all kinds of them; Ste. Gen. had all kinds of them.”

Most of the city’s water and sewer infrastructure dates back to 1963, the year the city was incorporated. The city appears to have sidestepped potential major issues. The aging system is gong to be largely replaced and modernized .

At their previous meeting, the board voted to enter into a five-year supervised program of water system improvements with Cochran Engineering for $26,500.

Lurk said he had not heard any updates from Cochran in recent days. Monia said he had hoped David Van Leer of Cochran might be there with an update that night, but understood why he wasn’t.

“Their hands are full right now,” Monia said.

The water main replacement will be a major project. It will lead to considerable street repair after the actual work is done. This was taken into consideration when the city pursued two successful half-cent tax measures that passed in the April 2018 election.

Proposition A, which goes for capital improvements, passed 41-16, or by a 71.9 percent to 28.1 percent mark. Proposition B, a transportation sales tax, passed 37-20, or 64.9 percent to 35.1 percent.

Lurk reported that there was one issue during the cold snap. A pipe broke on the St. Agnes School property.

MONIA WANTS TO SEE SLUDGE REAPPLIED

Monia expressed hope that sludge from the city wastewater plant holding basins can be spread on local agricultural fields as soon as predicted rains through this past weekend had passed. This is how the waste is disposed of. It is applied as a “biosolid” fertilizer for certain crops.

“It seems like we just land-applied sludge, but we’re going to have to do it again,” Monia said, adding that the predicted three inches of rain “will not help us” in getting the sludge spread.

“We want to get that done before the planting season,” Monia stressed.